


Lies By Omission

by artsyspikedhair



Series: How Harry Potter Became Harry Weasley- Tales From Hogwarts Boarding School [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Dursley Family, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Canonical Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Families of Choice, Food Issues, Inspired By Tumblr, M/M, Voldemort Dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 05:24:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6066835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyspikedhair/pseuds/artsyspikedhair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry avoids talking about certain things, but Ron gets it out him. </p><p>Or my second take on the non-magical boarding school AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lies By Omission

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this Tumblr post: http://nudityandnerdery.tumblr.com/post/138065781452/wheeloffortune-design-sea-goblin-jaslco
> 
> Also, this fic deals with the Dursley family and Harry's reactions to them, so keep that in mind.

Harry Potter was good at lying through omission. He would simply avoid admitting something because it didn't really matter that much to him, or he forgot, or he was intentionally hiding it. Ron was never sure which of these things was why Harry didn't mention something, but he knew Harry lied by omission. 

Ron remembers the first time this came up. It was nearing the holidays, and both boys were staying at Hogwarts for break. Ron would be staying because his parents were visiting Charlie and Bill in Romania, and he would rather stay with his best friend Harry than have to deal with Percy, Fred, and George all alone together. Harry was staying because his relatives didn't want him back anyway, or at least that was the feeling Ron got, because Harry never spoke about them. Ron understood that; if his parents had died trying to stop a crazed kidnapper convinced Harry was a wizard, and his guardians had lied to him about that death, he wouldn't like talking about it all either. 

So it was a few days before break. Ron was talking to Harry about how great his mum's fudge was, and then realized Harry hadn't spoken in nearly seven minutes. He decided to ask the scarred boy a question. 

"What do you think you'll be getting for the hols, mate?" 

Harry's eyebrows shot up, and he appeared uncomfortable at the sudden change of topic. Ron considered taking back his question, but then Harry decided to answer. "I dunno. Last year they gave me Dudley's dirty socks." 

Ron laughed, thinking Harry was joking. What kind of a family would give a ten-year-old orphan socks? But then he noticed the look on Harry's face, and said "Oh, you're... not joking? Well, I haven't started my physics essay yet. Wanna go get Hermione's help? Snape'll take any excuse to fail us, you know that." 

Harry sighed, visibly relieved. "Yeah, I think he's at the library. What kind of man assigns homework the day before break anyway?" Harry thought about his lie. Well, it wasn't really a lie. They had given Harry socks, but took them back the day after. Dudley had laughed, as if the mere idea of giving the freak a present, even just socks, was unthinkable. 

"A git, that's who. Honestly, I don't know why Dumbledore lets that man teach, honestly. He insults people, assigns too much homework, and it's like he wants everyone who isn't a precious Slytherin to fail!" 

Harry was surprised by this surprisingly Hermionesque speech, but then it dawned on him that Ron actually listens to Hermione. Thinking of Hermione, Harry left to go find her. 

Ron, on the other hand, left to go write his mum. There were only three days until Christmas Eve, and Harry needed a present. Ron knew his mum would figure something out, and if not her, his dad would. He wrote a letter that evening and had it sent before Harry and Hermione came back. 

....................................................................................................................................................

Molly Weasley was constantly surprised by how rewarding being a mother made her feel. Whether it was ensuring her twins weren't up to any trouble or having little Ginny around to help with the chores and play pretend games with, Molly Weasley loved her children with all her heart. And never was this more clear than during the holidays. She starting knitting her sweaters weeks in advance. It always took about 5 days to make the sweater, and another one to embroider the letter. 

But Ron's first year at Hogwarts, Molly gets a letter from him, two days before Christmas Eve. He writes about his friend Harry, the one Molly and Ginny saw at the train station. Harry doesn't have any Christmas gifts, Ron wrote. Ron had included Harry measurements in the letter, which struck Molly as a bit odd, considering Harry had no idea about the Christmas sweater tradition. Nonetheless, Molly thought it was sweet of Ron.

Molly immediately began knitting. As she began knitting, she remembered her one glimpse at the boy she was knitting for. He had been extraordinarily skinny, more so than even Percy was at his age, and Percy had been going through his meal-skipping phase back then. (It had never gotten bad enough for the doctors to consider it an eating disorder, and he went back to eating normally the summer after Hogwarts. Molly didn't know what changed, so she referred to that time as his meal-skipping phase, although at the time it didn't seem like a phase. Percy had always worried Molly, although he had been doing well at Hogwarts, even becoming a prefect.) Harry had been wearing oversize clothes that were all dyed gray. He had strikingly green eyes, which is why Molly decided to make the letter on the sweater green, to match his eyes. She made the body of the sweater a sky blue. She didn't sleep at all the first night, not until the body of the sweater was done. She took a one hour nap, relying on her husband to wake her because it was his day off, then knitted the sleeves. She missed another night's sleep that night. Arther made the fudge, then the sweater was mailed. 

.............................................................................................................................................................

Harry had never been happier than that one Christmas. He had buried Ron in a hug that lasted several minutes, both boys wearing Weasley sweaters. Harry had a family, at least for now.

Later in life, Harry would confess to his relatives mistreatment of him. Hermione would explain how she had noticed Harry being skinnier at the end of every summer but was afraid to comment. Ron would feel awful for not knowing sooner, but Harry will admit to being an expert liar. Hermione knows most victims of abuse learn how to lie as a coping mechanism. Ron will kiss Harry after this conversation, and the two will cuddle passionately. Molly Weasley will remember how, when Fred, George, and Ron rescued Harry by driving across the country without licenses, Fred insisted that Harry had been starved. Molly will remember how Harry shrank back when she yelled at her boys. Ginny and George will be silent, unsure how to react. Percy will not be present during the conversation. Nobody will feel like they've done anything right by Harry, who still shrank back from arguments, who could never be called "Boy!" without flinching or panicking or both. Harry, who was abused for seventeen years and never _told _ __anyone.But Harry will get out his Weasley sweater from that first year.__

"You were the only family I ever had, and you were there for me when I had never had anyone there for me before. You guys didn't let me down. I just never told you because I was ashamed. I love you all, and you haven't done wrong by me." And Harry Weasley would no longer be lying by omission. He would be speaking from the heart. 


End file.
